I recently had the mixed emotion experience of helping to clear out the family home. Inevitably you come across reminders of the important people in your life. For me, the chicks-in-the-nest devilled egg plate takes me straight back to my grandmother's house and all the family meals we shared there.
Those meals would be traditional farmhouse roasts of beef or chicken with garden grown vegetables, capped off with dessert which was more often than not cherry pie. Grandma's pie consisted of, to be honest, not the lightest of pastry, filled with store bought cherry pie filling laced with lashings of almond flavouring. It was delicious!
This cake is my attempt at recreating Grandma's pie. The cake itself contains almond flour, which keeps it moist but not heavy. I used ground almonds that still had some coarse pieces, creating small bits of crunch in the cake, but another time I might sift the almonds to keep the sponge finer. I also added almond flavouring. Almond can be overpowering, so I recommend taste-testing to find the level that works for you.
It's September in Scotland now, so fresh cherries are scarce and are certainly not available at the local Co-op. In the end, my long suffering husband was only able to find canned cherry pie filling (I'm in quarantine and unable to shop for myself...). In actual fact, the pre-made stuff worked a treat and remains true to Grandma's original pie. I forgot to add almond flavouring to the filling, but if you want "real" Grandma Pearn cherry pie cake, you would not miss out this step! For those more adventurous, I've included a recipe to make the filling from scratch. Australia, I'm looking at you and your cherry season arriving in the next few months.
Finally, I topped off the cake with an incredibly smooth Swiss meringue buttercream. I added a touch of almond flavouring here as well and avoided the vanilla in this case to keep the frosting as white as possible, creating a stark contrast with the red cherries. The result is a frosting with enough integrity to keep the cherries in their place (definitely use the frosting dam!), but subtle enough in flavour to complement, rather than dominate.
One last comment. The plates I've used here are Royal Dalton Queen's Messenger. I think they are exquisitely beautiful, but they are also a nod to a very strong lady who needs a few extra hugs at the moment. We love you.
GRANDMA’S CHERRY PIE CAKE
makes 2 mini-cakes
THE CAKE
½ cup (80g) flour, sifted, spooned and levelled
¼ cup (30g) ground almonds
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup whole milk at room temperature
½ teaspoon almond flavouring
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup (100g) white sugar
1 egg at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease one 8" round cake pan and line bottom with baking paper.
Whisk flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
Combine milk and almond flavouring and set aside.
Beat butter on medium-high until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Add sugar and cream together for 2-3 minutes on high speed.
Add egg and continue to beat on high, occasionally stopping to scrape sides, until fully blended. Add vanilla and mix well.
Add dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with milk/almond, mixing on low-medium until just incorporated. Scrape sides once and mix again for no more than 30 seconds.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Remove baking paper.
CHERRY PIE FILLING
canned pie filling works fine as well, just add a bit of almond flavouring
2 cups fresh, pitted cherries
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
⅛ teaspoon almond extract
Combine cherries, water, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, turn to low and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and stir in almond extract.
ALMOND BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
SWISS BUTTERCREAM
1 large egg white
⅓ cup (80g) white sugar
½ cup (113g) butter at room temperature
Almond flavouring to taste (I avoided vanilla in order to keep the buttercream extra white, but feel free to use it if you would rather)
In a heat proof bowl, the bowl of your stand mixer or top of a double boiler, whisk together egg white and white sugar. Place over a bowl of quietly simmering water and heat, occasionally stirring until mixture reaches 160F on a candy thermometer.
Remove from heat and beat on high, with whisk attachment if you have it, for 8-10 minutes. Result should be a shiny meringue that holds medium-stiff peaks and has returned to room temperature.
Add butter, one small chunk at a time, allowing each to fully incorporate. Once the butter is all added, mix in the almond flavouring.
ASSEMBLY
Place cake on a cutting board and create mini-cake layers by cutting 4 circles. Depending on the size of your cutter, you will need to go quite close to the edge to get the four. If your cake hasn't baked flat, use a bread knife to level the tops of the layers. Offcuts can be snarfled up by yourself or lucky family members. Place one layer, bottom side down, on serving plate. Pipe a frosting dam around the top edge and fill with cherry pie filling (I cut the cherries in half for this layer). Top with a second layer, bottom-side up. Repeat with other two layers to make a second cake.
Crumb coat the cake with frosting and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Frost the sides however you wish and pipe a patterned dam around the upper edge. Fill this with brilliant red cherry filling.
Store in fridge, but serve at room temperature.
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